The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-10-06

SWIFTLY PASSING AWAY.
How tho Roll Stands After Twenty-Five
Years.

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How tho Roll Stands After Twenty-Five
Years.
Although only twenty-five years have
elapsed since the fall of the Confederacy,
the catalogue of the dead who while in
life bore prominent parts in the mainte-
nance of that government is remarkable.
Not the fight of time only, but burthen'
some losses, weighty disappointments,
mental and physical tension, and unusual
affections have had much to do in bring.
ing about heavy mortality. This will
increase during the next decade in a
greater than geomatrical ratio, and very
soon there will be none among the living
who bore personal allegiance to the
American flag. The youngest survivor
of the Confederate army and navy
well.kept Benedict or spruce bachelor
though he be-must surely have attained
his 4Oth year. The head of the average
soldier is silvered with age, and multi
tudes who were in the meridian of life
when the storm ragged have succumbed to
the inevitable law which fixes the bounds
of human life.
Let us see, in general way, how the
record stands:
Our venerable President still lives,
and at Beauvoir enjoys a serene old age
beneath the grateful shadows of Southern
live oaks and magnolias; but the Vice
President of the Confederacy four years
ago terminated his active and useful
career.
Of those who held the portfolio of
State, Robert Toombs, R. M. T. Hunter
and Judah P. Benjamin are all dead.
Of the four Attorneys General, ex-
Gov. Thos. Il. Watts and the Hon. Geo.
Davis survive.
Mr.. Memminger, of the Treasury De.
partment, still lives. The other Secreta.
ry-the gifted George A. Trenholm-has
for years been sleeping that sleep which
knows no waking.
Of the five Secretaries of War-Leroy
Pope Walker, Judah P. Benjamin, Geo.
W. Randolph, James A. Seddon and
John O. Breckenridge-not one is alive.
Turning to the Navy Department, we
find upon the death roll the names of
Secretary Stephen R. Mallory, of Com
modore F. Forest, chief of the bureau of
orders, of Admirals Franklin Buchanan
and Raphael semmes, Of Commodores
Tattnall, Maury, Whittle, Hollins, In.
graham, and of many other prominent
officers.
OF those who bore rank as full Gener.
ais in the armies of the Confederacy,
only two survive, Generals Joseph E.
Johnston and q. T. BeauIegard. Cen
eral Albert s. Johnston fell In the battle
of Shiloh, and Generals Robert E. Lee
and Braxton Bragg died since the cessa-
ton of hostilities.
There were two generals with tempora.
ry rank-E. Kirby Smith and John B.
Hood. The former lives, and the latter,
in dying, commended his orphans to the
care of the soldiers of the Confederacy.
Twenty.one officers were complimented
with the grade of Lieutenant General.
The only survivors are General james
Longstreet, E. Kirby Smith, D. 81. Hill,
Stephen D. Lee, Wade Hampton, Jubal
A. Early, Alexander P. Stewart, Joseph
Wheeler, Simon B. Buckner and John B.
Gordon.
Of the one hundred who were commits
stoned az Major. Generals in Confederate
service, if my information be correct.
only forty.fve are now numbered among
the living.
Of four hundred and eighty who rose
to the grade of Brigadier. General, an
inquiry-by no means partial-inclines
me to the belief that there are not two
hundred in life.
With the exception of Thomas Fl.
Watts, of Alabama, Joseph E. Brown, Of
Georgia, Zebulon B. Vance, of North
Carolina, M. L. Bonham and A. G. Ma
gratb, of South Carolina, Isham G.. Har.
ris, of Tennessee, and perhaps Richard
Hawes, of Kentucky, all the war Govern.
ors of Confederate States are dead.
The Constitution of the Confederate
States was signed by forty.nine delegates
All who affixed their signatures to that
memorable document are dead except G.
g. Memminger, W. Porcher Miles and
William W. Boyce, Of South Carolina;
Augustus r. Wright, of Georgia; David
P. Lewis and Jabez L. M. Curry, of Ala.
bama; W. P. Harris, Alexander M
Clayton and J. A. P. Campbell, of Mis-.
sississippi; Alexander de Clouet, of Lou.
isiana; and Thomas N. Waul and John
H. Reagan, of Texas.
And who can furnish even roster Of
the field, company and non commissioned
officers, privates, subordinates in various
departments, and servants of the Confed-
eracy, who have died since the final
surrender? Surely none, save the re-
cording angel, is competent for such a
task. Wounds, bruises, poverty, desola-
tiou, exposures, wants and disappoint.
ments have exerted a potent influence in
shortening the lives of many who escaped
death upon the march, on the field OIL
battle, or in prison, camp or hospital
In the natural order of affairs, the multi
tude of those who have thus gone to
their graves must be great. Sad as the
fact is, we may rest assured that with the
close of this century there will remain
comparatively few competent, from per.
sonal experience, to narrate any of the
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